Chip Chick
This 32-year-old man and his 32-year-old wife have a 2-month-old daughter. They have a small house in Florida, and their city has an incredibly high cost of living. Their home is 1,300 square feet, and he estimated it wasn’t worth what he hoped to sell it for.
For the entire five years that he and his wife have been together, they discussed the hope of moving to a rural town and having children. Their wish has come true because they stumbled across a gorgeous home they could easily afford in a tiny farming town an hour away (60 miles) from where they currently live. They were thrilled and wanted to tell their families, but it didn’t go how they thought it would.
His wife works for her mom’s business. She’s in charge of running the business’s social media, accounting, graphic design, and website maintenance. Her responsibilities include meeting in person with clients who use the business facility. A few weeks ago, on a Sunday, he and his wife were at dinner with his in-laws, and they told her family about their upcoming move.
“Immediately, her mother started weaponizing her job, saying she couldn’t commute and work. Her mother said if she ever wants to run the business, she can’t live out of town,” he said.
He assumed his mother-in-law was just hurt and shocked and hoped she’d settle down eventually. A week later, his wife’s mother sent them housing listings in her neighborhood, and all the homes were $200,000 to $300,000 over their budget. His mother-in-law even assigned his wife remote work, even though she’s currently on maternity leave.
In his view, it wasn’t fair that his mother-in-law thought his wife could perform job duties perfectly fine from home while on maternity leave but didn’t think the same arrangement would work when they moved an hour away.
Even though he was irritated with his mother-in-law’s behavior, he rationalized that she must be dealing with a lot of stress. On Sunday, he and his wife were at dinner with his in-laws, and his mother-in-law again brought up the idea of them moving to her neighborhood instead.
“My wife shoots it down, but I can see it’s wearing on her. Then, my mother-in-law tells my wife, ‘Maybe if your husband worked harder, you could afford to live here,'” he explained.
He’d been out of earshot at the time, so he hadn’t heard his mother-in-law’s statement, but he heard his wife’s angry retort, and he was happy to listen to her stand up for him. His wife told him later what her mom said to prompt her furious answer.
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